Robert Larson Comic Reviews

This was the first issue of Bitch Planet that has failed to grab or affect me in a really strong way. Every issue is so visceral and so full of subtext, references to the present, and complicated intersectional feminism that I always have plenty to think about when I finish the issue. But I finished reading this particular issue, and it had no real impact on me. It just advances the plot, and it doesn't even do that to the normal standards of Bitch Planet. Perhaps it's just an off issue? I hope so.

None of this changes my sense that this book needs to stop using "X gets the shaft" as a trope, because it will wear thin. That being said, I'm more disposed to accept that when it's done well, and that's what happens here. The status quo has been changed sufficiently that I'll buy back in.

Next issue, I guess we finally get to figure out what the hell happens to Tim and the rest of the gang. I'm not going to lie, Lemire is going to have to do some serious work to buy back my interest in this series, but at least this issue, he's got me going for another shot.

And now, in one issue, we'll see Gadrel's master plan and then watch as Lucas presumably foils it and saves his immortal soul (though I'd kind of enjoy an ending where he fails; at least it would be in keeping with this series' out-of-left-field modus operandi). It just feels really rushed, perhaps a consequence of the Boom! mini-series format, but still ultimately owed to poor pacing decisions.

As Boss breaks his cardinal rule and brings the gangster persona into his football life, it seems like Craw County is in store for a genuine bloodbath. I don't think Craw is unique for having football coaches that fight dirty; will he invite retaliation with this latest move? I'm glad to have this series back, and finally delivering some goods again.

I also won't lie, I've been excited for this book to come back because of the news. Southern Bastards is not a series that has been shy about tackling politics, and unless you've been under a rock, the Old South is back in the news again. Of course, this particular issue can't hope to tackle what happened in Charlottesville; the events are less than a week old. But Latour and Aaron are smart men, and I imagine there's an opportunity to talk about statues or Robert E. Lee or the Stars and Bars, and why these symbols and monuments, built decades after the war's end have this continuing significance to angry white men today.

That would be an interesting lesson from all of this. Rick gambled that the threat from the Whisperers would make the community stronger by giving them a threat to unite against, but maybe that threat will ultimately end up dividing them all. Wouldn't that be an interesting lesson?

Overall, I walked away unimpressed from this issue. Things will pick up, but this felt like an especially weak middle issue for the series.

On its own, this issue was a solid read, and if nothing else, experimentation in comics is a good thing. I just wish that with the major twist of last issue out of the way, we finally would dig deeper into some of these people. Maybe we'll get that next time.

Even if I'm not totally sold on this series, the hooks that were tossed out are strong enough to get me to come back for a second issue. I do want to see some of what I've brought up addressed, but I'll give it a chance to see where it's going first.